Bolivia

When some friends came over to visit from various parts of the world, I knew I had to take them on the Choro Trail… even if it was the rainy season.

Day 2 started late and due to a few too many breaks and some badly blistered feet we ended up arriving to our next camp well after sunset. On the way we stopped at a waterfall and shared some good laughs.

After a surprise tick bite and dealing with dealt with the feet in question, said goodbye to Tamiji and headed off on our way to Coroico.

A special thanks to Sierra Trading Post for the Jetboil Helios and Mountain Hardwear Versteeg. They were awesome. Expect a full review in the near future.

Take a look and let us know what you think.

All video is with my new Sony PJ580v Handycam or Sony Action Cam.

Well, we went out to a remote mountain area as a family to have a bit of fun and maybe to some fishing. It was a great trip but ended early with an injury that sent us to hospital. Everyone is fine, but it was a huge reminder of the importance of first aid skills when you have kids.

I figure I’d share the photos of our trip, rather than writing all about it in depth.

We stopped at this small stream and decided that this would provide fun for all.

These rocks and that boy will feature later below.

The kids spent most of the time scampering back and forth finding rocks to throw in the river. “This way it will scare all the fish to daddy”, was the excuse of my daughter.

The backdrop was just stunning, we came here in part to take a family photo.

In the background you can see a half sunken boat on the edge of the lake.

Our youngest had a blast in the fresh mountain air (15500 feet or so) before he dozed off under a bundle of blankets.

My Tyvek ground cloth was put to good use when the wind picked up. Note the chocolate covered faces.

Lunch was a quinua dish made up by my wife and cooked on our Jetboil Helios.

We took a stroll around the lake and spotted this handsome feller in the grass.

After lunch came the accident. Our 3rd child tripped on some rocks and went headlong into a sharp one leaving a cut on his head. With a bit of team work we got our first aid kit and fixed him up. We had to hold the wound shut to reduce scarring and then place a big old piece of Leukotape on it to keep him from picking at it.

Here’s the little trooper all ready to zip to the hospital. He had a couple scrapes and because of my crazy driving thrw up on the way (which made us pretty worried).

He was given a Cat scan at the hospital and he was cleared with no long lasting problems. We got him home and he was as bubbly as ever.

This could have happened anywhere and although we feel incredibly blessed that we had what knowledge we did to tidy him up and get him checked out, we are definitely going to be taking wilderness first aid courses this summer. Now that we’re taking the whole family on bigger adventures we want to be equipped for whatever potential problem that may occur.

On Monday we left on a 3-day, 50 km hike that started at 4800 meters in the Andean mountains and ended in the tropics. We went in the off season and got some great memories. I thought I’d share the experience in photos.

We headed from the trail head towards the summit at about 7:30 a.m.

As the mist cleared, we saw that the previous night had left the pass dusted with snow.

An unexpected snowstorm cut our breakfast short.

After dropping out of the clouds, we saw the ancient tambo or wayside inn.

llamas in the mist.

The trail quickly changes from barren summits to semi-tropical cloud forest.

Deconstructed pizza at the end of day 1.

A much needed cool down on what turned out to be a very humid and hot second day.

Just one of the many butterflies we encountered on our trip.

It was worth carrying in the avocado and spinach just for this!

One of the local loco miners.

Anyone have the name of this little friend?

Quinua Italiano.

My UL shelter that gave me an amazing view of the starry skies!

Foot repair on the start of day 3.

Signing the guest book of Tamiji Hanamura. He turned 88 in December.

Tired and triumphant. Even though we had another 2 hours to go until we found cheap transportation to Coroico.

In Coroico after a long 3 days and heading back to La Paz.

In early August, I received an email from someone named Julian in the USA who wanted to hike the Choro Trail with a few friends. I jumped at the opportunity to hike this trail again and we started making plans. Things changed after Julian got sick the day before I trip up to the trail and instead of just bringing along gear for some video reviews of gear, I was placed in the position of documenting the trip for Steven N Newman of worldwalker fame.

Feel free to check out Steven’s website and buy a digital copy of the original worldwalker book.
www.StevenNNewman.com

Freeze drying or lyophilization now-a-days goes hand in hand with space flight, military and backpackers. We think of modern technology for lightweight and long term storage, but it’s something that has been around for a lot longer than even the USA was a nation.

This technology in its primitive form is both pre-columbian and pre-incan and was used by the aymaran cultures of South America for over 600 years.

Freeze drying preserves food by removing moisture  by using a combination of freezeingcold temperatures and heat. The Andean cultures have taken advantage of the cold nights in the mountains and the intense sun to do the same and preserve potatoes to make them last for years. 

The process takes several days and is usually done in their winters at high altitude, even today. They head up to the hills and lay out the potatoes on the hard ground. After poking holes in the potatoes to help the moisture escape they let the cold temperature bring the moisture out to the surface and then let the sun let it evaporate. They then employ the most basic of tools, their feet, to help remove remaining moisture and at the same time get rid of the skins. Depending on the type of potato product they want, they can moisten them to produce a white potato (tunto) as opposed to the normal black variety (chuño). The final process is to let them finish drying without skins in the sun.

They then can be stored for long periods of time (some were even found at the pre-incan ruins in Bolivia known as Tiwanaku).

To me, it shows how people of different countries learned to adapt and make use of their environment, and how some of these “New” ideas are actually only slight variations of well proven concepts.

I’ve had the opportunity to both see the process in action in the Andean mountains and taste the rehydrated end result. It’s amazing to see small communities of tents on high mountain passes set up for the drying season and the hillsides covered with potatoes for those few weeks of the year.


They include these potatoes in many traditional dishes and soups. I’ve also had the opportunity to taste them. The locals love them, but let’s just say there has been a lot of progress made with freeze dried meals in the last 50 years in North America.

You can’t help but admire their ingenuity in developing such a simple and effective way to preserve food with little cost. Especially when the modern day equivalent requires a machine that costs tens of thousands of dollars!

In Bolivia, the locals have their fair share of traditions. One of them has to do with the most famous bird of the area, the Andean Condor. A massive bird, this Buzzard is both revered and despised. Revered for its size and beauty, but despised for its habit of carrying away and eating small animals. As is often the case, such mixed feelings and respect have lead to the development of another tradition around a set of mountains called Tuni Condoriri.

Condoriri is a set of three peaks that together look like a condor with wings outspread. It juts out of the surrounding hills and hovers over several lakes (lagunas) and streams that occupy the narrow valley. It is said to be the home of the last enormous condors. These Condoriri condors are said to swoop down and carry away children, but that’s only the start. The children are then trained to be “Condor Men”… and women I suppose, who return to small villages, cry havoc, letting slip the dogs… condors of war.

Of course, we went for the views. We hiked up the valley, starting at 4200 meters 13 779 feet and passing through flocks of llamas, past streams and waterfalls, aimed for the base camp for mountain climbers at 4900 meters (16 080 feet). With only a few small houses along the way, it was a very peaceful hike with many awesome views of the mountains, lakes and wild birds who gorged themselves on the multitude of trout gracing the waters.

Probably too much for me, having only arrived 4 days earlier from sea level, it was a great trip. It took us 2.75 hours to get to the top lake, and 1.75 to return for a total of 5 hours. Its a 20+ km trip (12.5 miles) and a good exercise for your lungs if you haven’t built up the necessary Red blood cell supply!

Oh and speaking of health, definitely wear a hat and use sunscreen. I had forgotten my Tilley and it turns out I suffered a nasty sunburn that peeled 3 times in the next week. NOT safe.

I just wanted to share some photos and a video of the trip to give you a taste of why Bolivia is a great travel destination for the adventurer.